Today we visited James Island, also known as Santiago Island. This is the island where Darwin spent most of his days during his visit in Galapagos. Early in the morning we took our Zodiacs to visit Espumilla Beach. On our early outing we had the opportunity to go on a photography specific hike, taking our time to learn about our camera settings and composition keys for nature photography, while walking along the beach with our National Geographic Certified Photo Instructor.
After breakfast we navigated towards Buccaneer’s Cove to explore the undersea world. We were lucky to encounter fur sea lions and a large variety of fish, and in the deepest part, white-tipped reef sharks, rays, and schools of surgeon fish were the delight of our guests.
After lunch the National Geographic Islander was repositioned to Puerto Egas or James Bay, a place where a small human population operated a salt “mine” from a dormant volcano. Walking along the rocky trail we encountered many species of shore birds, including American oystercatchers eating crabs in the tidal pools and looking for sea urchins and crustaceans. Close to the water semipalmated plovers and other migratory birds were also spotted.
The geology along this hike was breathtaking, from tuff formations to young lava fields along the coast and intertidal area. The contrast of the the golden light of the sunset with the shapes of the lava were beautiful to observe and photograph.
We headed our Zodiacs back to the National Geographic Islander having had wonderful experiences on this beautiful day in Darwin’s paradise.
